


Squish

by localspacelesbian



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, ashlyn/gina - implied, redlyn - mentioned, rini - mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:53:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23100520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/localspacelesbian/pseuds/localspacelesbian
Summary: Ricky and Ashlyn go shopping together.
Relationships: Ashlyn Caswell & Gina Porter, Ricky Bowen & Ashlyn Caswell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Squish

**Author's Note:**

> for reference, [this](https://squishmallows.com/) is a squishmallow.

Ricky knocked on the door to the Caswells’ house. He had been a bit surprised to get a text from Ashlyn the day before, asking him for help picking out a birthday present for Big Red. But maybe he shouldn’t have been. After all, Ashlyn and Big Red were… whatever they were, and Ricky was Big Red’s best friend. So maybe it was more surprising that the two of them had never really talked much before, at least not without the rest of the theatre dorks being there too.

The door opened, and Ashlyn stood there, smiling at him. “You ready to go?” Ricky nodded, and she stepped out of the house, closing the door behind her. The two of them fell into step, walking toward Ricky’s car that was parked in the driveway.

As they got in the car, he gave her the aux chord and let her pick some music and he pulled out of the driveway. It took him a second to recognize the song that was playing, but when he did, he groaned. “Dude, seriously? The Greatest Showman?”

“What? This song’s a bop, and you know it.” He glanced at her and realized she was teasing him. “Although, to be honest, I wasn’t sure if you made it this far into the movie.” Actually, he hadn’t, but he’d heard the song plenty of times since then, and every time, Nini gave him a look to remind him of his sins.

“Nini told you about that?”

She nodded. “Oh yeah. She told everyone about that. Why would you yell in a movie theatre?”

“To be fair, there were only like three other people in the theatre.”

“That’s not better.” She laughed, and then the chorus came on, and she turned up the volume and started singing along. “ _When the sharpest words wanna cut me down, I’m gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out…_ ”

He could feel her staring at her and saw out of the corner of his eye as she dramatically sang the song. After a few seconds he gave in and joined in. “ _I am brave. I am bruised. I am who I’m meant to be. This is me._ ” Because ok, maybe he did know the song, at least a little bit. And if he actually kind of had fun, well, no one needed to know.

Ricky didn’t recognize the next song that played, but he could tell it was from a musical. “Do you listen to exclusively show tunes?” He asked her.

She snorted. “No. But come on, you’re a theatre kid now. Get used to it.”

He laughed and shook his head, but he couldn’t really argue with that, even though he still couldn’t quite believe it was true.

She turned the volume back down, and the two of them spent the rest of the car ride talking about what to get Big Red, but they still hadn’t decided on something by the time they pulled into the mall parking lot. Maybe they’d gotten distracted talking about other things. Ricky was surprised at how easy it was to talk to her. He had kind of expected things to be awkward, her being EJ’s cousin and all, but she was so sweet, he could hardly believe the two were related. (Ok yeah, he and EJ were cool now, but still; EJ had done some fucked up shit.) She seemed surprised every time she realized he was actually listening to her, which confused him because he thought all her stories were fascinating. She was somehow juggling like six different clubs, two of which she was the captain/president of, and she still managed to find time to write music, be in a relationship (or whatever it was) with Big Red, and be a great friend to pretty much everyone. How could anyone ever find her boring? In a lot of ways, she reminded Ricky of Big Red, and he could finally see why the two liked each other.

They wandered around the mall for a while, not really seeing anything that they could both agree that Big Red would like. Ricky wasn’t sure what store they were in at this point, but he saw a shelf full of the squishiest looking stuffed animals he had ever seen, and he just had to touch them. So he did. Yeah, they were just as soft and squishy as they looked. “Ashlyn, come here.”

She turned around to see what he was looking at and raised her eyebrow. “What? You think I should get Big Red a stuffed animal?”

“Just feel them. They’re like the softest thing in the world.”

She chuckled but did as he asked. “Ok, you’re right. This is kind of amazing. I want four of them.” She picked up the one she had touched, a purple unicorn, and looked at the tag. “Oh my god, they have names. This is like the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Listen to this: ‘Do you believe in fate? Astrid does! She is a dreamer and loves learning how about how the stars align. Her birthday is December 21st, the longest night of the year! Isn’t that perfect for Astrid? Her most prized possession is her telescope, and she is rarely ever without it.’”

He couldn’t help but smile and give a short laugh. “That is objectively adorable.” He picked up the one nearest him, a blue penguin, and read out it’s tag. “‘Puff loves extra marshmallows in his cocoa, and sharing smiles with his friends. He can be a bit silly sometimes, but he’s great at keeping secrets.’”

The two of them went back and forth reading out the tags on what they quickly learned were called ‘Squishmallows’ for longer than was probably socially acceptable, but Ricky found that he didn’t care because he was surprisingly having a lot of fun. It was Ashlyn’s turn, but as she picked up a clownfish, she didn’t read the tag out loud right away. Confused, Ricky looked over and saw that she looked like she was trying not to laugh.

“What?”

“Ricky, it’s you.”

“What?”

“Look!” She shoved the toy toward him, and sure enough, it was named Ricky.

He read the tag out loud. “‘Living up to his species, Ricky knows how to make all the other Squishmallows laugh! Catch him at his next open mic night and see for yourself!’” He looked up at her.

At that moment, she couldn’t contain herself any longer and burst out laughing. “You have to get it. It’s like fate.” She barely managed to get the words out.

He shook his head. “I feel like that’s weird.”

She finally stopped laughing and gave him a look like she had an idea. “What if you got it for Nini? Like as a going away present. So then she can have a Ricky with her in Denver. Clearly the superior Ricky.”

At the reminder that Nini was moving, Ricky’s smile fell, but he had to admit that Ashlyn had a point. That was exactly the kind of cheesy thing he and Nini both loved (even though he rarely admitted that). Pretending to think about it, he looked over to see if there were any Squishmallows left that they hadn’t looked at yet and noticed that there were still a few Christmas ones left on sale. He picked up the one closest to him, a gingerbread person, and looked at the name. “Oh my god.”

“What?” He handed it to Ashlyn. Her eyes widened when she saw the name, and she read out the rest of the tag aloud. “‘Sweet and spicy describes this gingerbread girl! Gina is the head chef for the North Pole and she loves to test new tasty treats for Santa and the elves. But if they don’t eat their veggies – she doesn’t let them have any cookies!’” She looked up at him. “Oh my god.”

“Right? It’s like perfect for Gina.”

“It is.”

“You should get it for her.”

“Me?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. Why not?”

She seemed to think for a second before nodding. He wasn’t quite sure how to interpret the look on her face. “Ok. Yeah. Why not? I’ll get this one for Gina if you get that one for Nini. And you still have to help me find something for Big Red.”

Ricky nodded “Right.” He looked back at all the Squishmallows. “I don’t suppose there’s one here named Big Red, do you?”

“I think that would be too much of a coincidence.” They checked anyway. There wasn’t. “Oh well.”

“Yeah, we’ll find something.”

They checked out and continued wandering through the mall, looking for the perfect present for Big Red.

When Ricky parked in Ashlyn’s driveway, she turned to him before getting out. “You know, this was actually a lot of fun.”

“Why do you sound so surprised?”

She shrugged. “I guess it’s kind of hard to trust Nini’s taste in men after she dated my cousin.” He scoffed and shook his head, but he was smiling. “But on the other hand, Big Red and Gina both have pretty good taste, clearly.” She flipped her hair. “So I guess you can’t be that bad.” They both laughed for a second before she opened the door and started to get out. “I’ll see you around, Ricky.”

“Bye, Ashlyn.” He waved to her as she closed the door and waited for her to get inside before driving away.

Ashlyn walked inside and upstairs to her bedroom. She set her stuff on her bed and took off her shoes and coat. She put Big Red’s present in a safe place in her closest and then picked up the gingerbread Squishmallow and hugged it to her chest. It was so soft. She almost wanted to keep it for herself, but no, she got it for Gina. It literally had her name on it. Maybe she’d go back another day and get one for herself.

She wasn’t sure why her heart started beating fast when she thought about giving it to Gina, but she just pushed the thought away and took a deep breath. She figured that she might as well give it to her now, since it wasn’t for a special occasion or anything. Was that weird? No, friends got each other stuff all the time. She decided to just do it now before she could talk herself out of it. She left her bedroom and walked down the hall to the guest bedroom that had become Gina’s. She knocked on the door and hid the squishmallow behind her back just in time as Gina opened the door.

Gina smiled at her. “Oh hey. How was shopping?” She turned and walked further into the room, and Ashlyn followed her.

“It was good.”

“What’d you get Big Red?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“Seriously?” Ashlyn nodded. Gina sat on her bed and gave Ashlyn a suspicious look. “Are you hiding something behind your back?”

“Maybe.”

Gina raised her eyebrow. “Why?”

“I kind of got something for you too?”

“Why? It’s not _my_ birthday. And you already got me a Christmas present.”

Ashlyn shrugged. “I know. I just saw it and thought of you.”

Gina smiled. “That’s cute.” Ashlyn felt her face heat up against her will. “So… Are you just gonna leave me in suspense here?”

“Oh. Right.” She stepped forward and brought the Squishmallow in front of her.

Gina’s face lit up. “That’s adorable.” Ashlyn nodded and handed it to her. Gina took it and immediately hugged it to her chest. “Oh my god! I love it!”

Ashlyn smiled. “It gets better. Look at the tag.”

Confused, Gina did as she asked, and Ashlyn got to see the exact moment that Gina read the name and then the description. See, this right here was exactly why Ashlyn enjoyed being nice to people so much. To see them make that face. (And maybe’s Gina’s happy face was especially nice to see.) Gina set it on the bed next to her and stood up, pulling Ashlyn into a hug. “Thank you.” She pulled back but kept her hands on Ashlyn’s shoulders. “You’re seriously the sweetest person in the world. Like, how do you even exist?”

Ashlyn briefly wondered how often, if at all, Gina had ever had someone get her a present out of the blue like this before. She shrugged and tried to be nonchalant. “You deserve sweet things.”

Gina pulled her in for another hug. “I love you.”

Ashlyn melted. “I love you, too.”

Ashlyn heard the front door open and stepped back, confused. “Hey, Ash? You home?” She heard EJ’s familiar voice, and she and Gina started walking down the stairs, now only slightly less confused.

“Yeah?” She called back as they walked. They got to the bottom of the stairs and saw EJ standing there, holding a bag of takeout from her favorite Chinese place. “What are you doing here?”

Now it was his turn to look confused. “Didn’t Aunt Debby and Uncle Dennis tell you?”

She pulled out her phone and saw that she had a text from her mom from about twenty minutes ago. ‘Hey sweetie, dad and I are going out with your aunt and uncle tonight. There should be leftovers in the fridge.’ _You mean leftovers from the dinner_ I _made last night when you both had to stay late at work? Cool._ She looked up at EJ and sighed. “Cool.”

“Yeah… So my parents left me money for food, and I didn’t really feel like being by myself, so…” He held up the food. “I figured movie night?”

She smiled. “Sounds fun. I think it’s Gina’s turn to pick a movie. I’ll go grab drinks and napkins.” She went into the kitchen while the other two headed into the living room to get the tv set up. As she opened the fridge to grab three cans of pop, she noticed that the leftovers from the night before were gone. Her dad must have taken them to work for lunch. She just rolled her eyes and closed the door, grabbing a stack of napkins and heading into the living room. “So what are we watching?”

“The Greatest Showman,” Gina answered.

Ashlyn smiled and shared a look with EJ. “We get it. Zendaya’s hot,” the two Caswells said together before bursting out laughing.

Gina shook her head but was clearly trying to suppress a smile herself. “Shut up.”

Ashlyn sat down next to Gina, setting the pops on the coffee table and grabbing one the containers of food, and EJ pressed play on the movie.


End file.
